Abu Sinan shooting brings 2025's Arab sector death toll to 26

Some 230 Arab Israelis were murdered in 2024, according to Abraham Initiatives data. In comparison, in 2022, 116 Arabs were killed in Israel, while in 2021, 126 were killed.

By EVE YOUNG FEBRUARY 3, 2025 13:12

Three locals killed in Abu Sinan on February 2, 2025. (photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X/VIA SECTION 27A OF THE COPYRIGHT ACT)

Three men in their 20s and 30s were killed in a shooting in Abu Sinan late Sunday, Israel Police said early Monday. A fourth person was also seriously injured in the shooting, which took place near a corner store, police added.

A large number of officers responded to the event, police said, adding that the investigation will fall to the central unit of the police's coastal region command.

The background for the incident was criminal, according to police, who conjectured that the incident was likely a conflict "between criminals."

The head of Abu Sinan's local council, Sif Mashlab, told Kan Reset Bet that those killed in the shooting did not have a criminal background.

Mashlab said Israel Police did not make sufficient use of intelligence in this situation and other similar incidents, saying, "I am in daily contact with police, and I want to tell them one thing they are not doing and need to do."

Police crime scene tape (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

"If police act based on [intelligence about an incident], they will manage to prevent many cases," he said.

Following Sunday night's shooting, 26 Arab citizens have been killed in violent incidents since the start of 2025, according to Abraham Initiatives, a non-profit "working to advance social inclusion and equal rights for Israel's Palestinian citizens by influencing public policy."

The organization sent an urgent letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday morning, demanding that he appoint a permanent minister of National Security.

The organization highlighted that under the former national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, many plans to combat violence in the Arab sector were stopped, and budgets were cut.

"Ben-Gvir's tenure severely harmed the trust of the Arab sector in police and law enforcement, and the new minister will need to rehabilitate this trust," the organization said.

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"A permanent appointment of a national security minister should be made—one who is professional and serious—whose primary focus will be combating crime. Efforts should be carried out in cooperation with local Arab leadership, and the police should be strengthened to a degree that enables them to effectively address the scale of the phenomenon," the organization added.

Historical data

Some 230 Arab Israelis were murdered in 2024, according to Abraham Initiatives data.

This surpassed the previous year’s death toll in the sector due to crime, the highest since the state was founded, and over double the number of deaths compared to the previous year, at 224.

In comparison, in 2022, 116 Arabs were killed in Israel, while in 2021, 126 were killed; in 2020, 96 were killed, and in 2019, 89 were killed.

Only 10.5% of 2023’s murders were solved by the end of that year, and just 14.8% of the murders in 2024 were solved, Abraham Initiatives added.